The weather lately has produced amazing cloud formations to excite the keen photographer. A 7am short ride to explore around the Dee Why Lagoon resulted in some unusually vivid photos. Starting in Balgowlah, I took the trail behind Manly Golf Club on the way to Dee Why Beach.

At the end of the beach carpark is a small track that winds towards Dee Why Lagoon. This image shows where the track ends.

At low tide, it’s easy to ride on the packed damp sand if you have wide tyres (but not on dry soft sand). With the sun behind me, the lighting was fantastic.

I had to push my bike for about 50mtres on soft sand to reach the Long Reef Beach Reserve and the start of the Headland path. Times like this the ‘walk-assist’ mode is very helpful. As the path ascends to the Headland, this is the view looking south to Dee Why.

This image is taken almost from the same spot but looking north to the Headland.

I returned via the pretty Curl Curl Lagoon bike path behind the Northern Beaches Secondary College.

What started off as a short exercise ride turned out to be a very interesting look at an unexplored part of my local area. At under 30kms and less than two hours, I was home well before the temperature rise.